8 ms·

Why am I not surprised that trying to win sweepstakes is a full time job

TwelveNights 5y ago
There was a TV show in Japan where a man had to stay in a room until he managed to win $10000 of value in sweepstakes. I wouldn't say you can make a full-time job out of trying to win sweepstakes, since he ended up staying in the room for about a year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasubi#Denpa_Sh%C5%8Dnen_teki_Kensh%C5%8D_Seikatsu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasubi#Denpa_Sh%C5%8Dnen_teki_...
- inostia 5y ago
  > He started with nothing (including no clothes), was cut off from outside communication and broadcasting, and had nothing to keep him company except the magazines he combed through for sweepstakes entry forms. After spending 335 days to reach his target, he set the Guinness world record for the "longest time survived on competition winnings". Wow, that sounds extreme. But then again I remember there was a contest in San Diego where the participants had to stay 15 hours a day on a roller-coaster and many suffered lasting bodily injuries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Dipper_(Belmont_Park)#Events https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Dipper_(Belmont_Park)#Ev...
  - maxerickson 5y ago
    A woman died competing in a radio station water drinking contest (for a Nintendo Wii): https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/jury-rules-radio-station-jennifer-strange-water-drinking/story?id=8970712 https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/jury-rules-radio-station-jennifer...
- AussieWog93 5y ago
  If a naked man locked in a tiny apartment can make 10k/yr doing what is essentially admin work, then it's completely plausible that a disciplined and skilled engineer with web scrapers, computer vision, custom Python scripts and pants could make 100k+ working part time.
  - bbarnett 5y ago
    Hey, wait a jiff, I have pants!
  - spoonjim 5y ago
    Don’t be so certain. These sweepers are usually entering every possible sweepstakes they can. While you might be able to automate the entries and do it in 10 minutes instead of 3 hours a day, unless you start doing fraud like multiple identities, there may simply be no more sweepstakes to enter.
    - AussieWog93 5y ago
      It's not fraud if you use others' identity with their consent.
      - spoonjim 5y ago
        Sure. I am talking about calling yourself three John Smiths at three different addresses for example.
      - ALittleLight 5y ago
        If you could automatically enroll yourself in every sweepstakes legal for your locale, then you could also offer that service to anyone else interested. People could pay you 5 dollars a month to get automatically entered into every sweepstakes. Of course, this scales badly. The more people who take your service the less valuable it will be as the odds of winning will decrease. Perhaps the natural balancing point would be somewhere where you could still profit. Might be best to charge nothing but take a cut of the winnings. That way people wouldn't be discouraged from joining by the diminishing likelihood of winning, and the chances that someone from your pool would win would only increase over time.
        TeMPOraL 5y ago
        > Of course, this scales badly. Like with plenty of such ideas, the answer is to do it anyway - scale it until it breaks, making sure you're always making profit yourself, and then call it a day. Enjoy your money and do something else. A while later people will forget, and someone else will do the same thing. (The real answer is, of course, to not do this at all, because it's unethical. But that consideration doesn't stop everyone, unfortunately.)
wincy 5y ago
I was surprised when one day my stepdad had a fancy gaming mouse. I asked him how he got it and he shrugged and said “I entered a contest and won”. I’m so cynical I didn’t really believe anyone won stuff out of contests, but I guess you’ve got to enter in the first place to win.
- owyn 5y ago
  Yeah one day my dad dropped his business card in a bowl at the local Yamaha dealer and won a brand new GSXR 750. He rode that ninja bike to work daily for at least 10 years.
nly 5y ago
Competitions generally. It's called "comping"
Broken_Hippo 5y ago
It is similar with extreme couponing. I worked at a pharmacy chain in the US, and had a few regular customers that did such a thing. Absolutely amazing what folks can get for little money, though sometimes they had to invest start-up money to get going. After a while, it snowballs and you are paying $10 for $175 worth of stuff. But the time invested is not small. One of the regular customers did the stuff until she had a child: A baby takes up a lot of the time and mental energy that she previously used for coupons. I think she had months of supplies stocked up before giving birth, though.
- sunshineforever 5y ago
  I have a good friend who does extreme couponing to supplement her income. I have actually even seen her get paid to buy things due to retailer miscalculations. Her garage is stocked with such things as laundry detergent, deodorant, various cleaners etc which she sells on Facebook and Craigslist. It does involve a decent amount of time, but she has it organized with folders and does the couponing purchases while shopping normally.

There was a TV show in Japan where a man had to stay in a room until he managed to win $10000 of value in sweepstakes. I wouldn't say you can make a full-time job out of trying to win sweepstakes, since he ended up staying in the room for about a year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasubi#Denpa_Sh%C5%8Dnen_teki_Kensh%C5%8D_Seikatsu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasubi#Denpa_Sh%C5%8Dnen_teki_...

inostia 5y ago
> He started with nothing (including no clothes), was cut off from outside communication and broadcasting, and had nothing to keep him company except the magazines he combed through for sweepstakes entry forms. After spending 335 days to reach his target, he set the Guinness world record for the "longest time survived on competition winnings". Wow, that sounds extreme. But then again I remember there was a contest in San Diego where the participants had to stay 15 hours a day on a roller-coaster and many suffered lasting bodily injuries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Dipper_(Belmont_Park)#Events https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Dipper_(Belmont_Park)#Ev...
- maxerickson 5y ago
  A woman died competing in a radio station water drinking contest (for a Nintendo Wii): https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/jury-rules-radio-station-jennifer-strange-water-drinking/story?id=8970712 https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/jury-rules-radio-station-jennifer...
AussieWog93 5y ago
If a naked man locked in a tiny apartment can make 10k/yr doing what is essentially admin work, then it's completely plausible that a disciplined and skilled engineer with web scrapers, computer vision, custom Python scripts and pants could make 100k+ working part time.
- bbarnett 5y ago
  Hey, wait a jiff, I have pants!
- spoonjim 5y ago
  Don’t be so certain. These sweepers are usually entering every possible sweepstakes they can. While you might be able to automate the entries and do it in 10 minutes instead of 3 hours a day, unless you start doing fraud like multiple identities, there may simply be no more sweepstakes to enter.
  - AussieWog93 5y ago
    It's not fraud if you use others' identity with their consent.
    - spoonjim 5y ago
      Sure. I am talking about calling yourself three John Smiths at three different addresses for example.
    - ALittleLight 5y ago
      If you could automatically enroll yourself in every sweepstakes legal for your locale, then you could also offer that service to anyone else interested. People could pay you 5 dollars a month to get automatically entered into every sweepstakes. Of course, this scales badly. The more people who take your service the less valuable it will be as the odds of winning will decrease. Perhaps the natural balancing point would be somewhere where you could still profit. Might be best to charge nothing but take a cut of the winnings. That way people wouldn't be discouraged from joining by the diminishing likelihood of winning, and the chances that someone from your pool would win would only increase over time.
      - TeMPOraL 5y ago
        > Of course, this scales badly. Like with plenty of such ideas, the answer is to do it anyway - scale it until it breaks, making sure you're always making profit yourself, and then call it a day. Enjoy your money and do something else. A while later people will forget, and someone else will do the same thing. (The real answer is, of course, to not do this at all, because it's unethical. But that consideration doesn't stop everyone, unfortunately.)

wincy 5y ago

I was surprised when one day my stepdad had a fancy gaming mouse. I asked him how he got it and he shrugged and said “I entered a contest and won”. I’m so cynical I didn’t really believe anyone won stuff out of contests, but I guess you’ve got to enter in the first place to win.

owyn 5y ago
Yeah one day my dad dropped his business card in a bowl at the local Yamaha dealer and won a brand new GSXR 750. He rode that ninja bike to work daily for at least 10 years.

nly 5y ago

Competitions generally. It's called "comping"

Broken_Hippo 5y ago

It is similar with extreme couponing. I worked at a pharmacy chain in the US, and had a few regular customers that did such a thing. Absolutely amazing what folks can get for little money, though sometimes they had to invest start-up money to get going. After a while, it snowballs and you are paying $10 for $175 worth of stuff. But the time invested is not small. One of the regular customers did the stuff until she had a child: A baby takes up a lot of the time and mental energy that she previously used for coupons. I think she had months of supplies stocked up before giving birth, though.

sunshineforever 5y ago
I have a good friend who does extreme couponing to supplement her income. I have actually even seen her get paid to buy things due to retailer miscalculations. Her garage is stocked with such things as laundry detergent, deodorant, various cleaners etc which she sells on Facebook and Craigslist. It does involve a decent amount of time, but she has it organized with folders and does the couponing purchases while shopping normally.